It was a very mixed-up day, weather-wise, at Henricus - Dutch Gap. We stayed dry, but had warm sun, threatening clouds, and chilly breezes by turns. For all that, we turned up 48 species, including a couple of Prothonotary Warblers singing on territory back along the trail to the bald cypress grove. Another was reported along the entrance road by Gerry Weinberger.Yellow-throated Warblers, Pine Warblers, and Common Yellowthroats were also singing, and it was hard to get away from Blue-gray Gnatcatchers. There appear to be two Osprey nests under construction, and Great Blue Heron nests at two sites. White-throated Sparrows were still well represented, and we also found a couple of Juncos still hanging around. There was a flock of around 24 Black Vultures hanging about near the entrance to the Dominion Va. Power fly-ash ponds as I entered the park. The cap on the morning for those who hung in until the end was a spirited aerial display by a pair of adult Bald Eagles as we returned to the Visitor Center parking lot.
I've put a few images from the morning in my Picasa web albums, which you can view here:
http://picasaweb.google.com/blbarnett3/DutchGapChesterfieldCoVA4112009?feat=directlinkIf you were along on the trip today and would like to have the following checklist shared with you, just send me a request with the email address you use on eBird.
Good birding, Lewis Barnett Location: Henricus - Dutch Gap Conservation Area Observation date: 4/11/09 Number of species: 48 Canada Goose 10 Wood Duck 4 Mallard 1 Double-crested Cormorant 5 Great Blue Heron 7 Great Egret 4 Black Vulture 24 Turkey Vulture 5 Osprey 5 Bald Eagle 3 Sharp-shinned Hawk 1 American Kestrel 2 Killdeer 2 Laughing Gull 15 Ring-billed Gull 5 Mourning Dove 1 Belted Kingfisher 2 Red-bellied Woodpecker 2 Downy Woodpecker 3 Pileated Woodpecker 2 Eastern Phoebe 2 White-eyed Vireo 2 Fish Crow 3 Tree Swallow 7 Carolina Chickadee 4 Tufted Titmouse 4 White-breasted Nuthatch 1 Carolina Wren 5 Blue-gray Gnatcatcher 6 Eastern Bluebird 2 American Robin 3 Northern Mockingbird 6 Brown Thrasher 3 European Starling 8 Yellow-rumped Warbler 1 Yellow-throated Warbler 3 Pine Warbler 1 Prothonotary Warbler 2 Common Yellowthroat 2 Eastern Towhee 1 Chipping Sparrow 2 White-throated Sparrow 17 Dark-eyed Junco 2 Northern Cardinal 9 Red-winged Blackbird 10 Brown-headed Cowbird 1 House Finch 1 American Goldfinch 4 This report was generated automatically by eBird v2(http://ebird.org/VA) You are subscribed to VA-Richmond-General. To unsubscribe, send email to va-richmond-general-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with 'unsubscribe' in the Subject field. To adjust other settings (vacation, digest, etc.) please visit, //www.freelists.org/list/va-richmond-general.
